User Reviews

There were a number of "superfights" throughout the 20th century, but only one fight deserves the distinction of being called The Fight of the Century- and this was it. Fifteen rounds of toe-to-toe action by two of the best heavyweights to ever lace on a pair of gloves. Both men were at the height of their game. The ever loquacious Ali, banned from boxing for two and a half years, had finally returned to the ring in smashing fashion in 1970 by dispatching perennial contender Jerry Quarry in just three rounds. That was followed by a gruelling fifteenth round knockout over the Argentinian Oscar "Ringo" Bonavena. The Quarry fight had suggested that the vaunted hand speed was still there, and the Bonavena fight proved that stamina was still an Ali strong suit. Unfortunately, Joe Frazier, who had become the heavyweight champion in Ali's absence, was made of far sterner stuff than either of the two contenders Ali had beaten en route to their showdown.

The fight speaks for itself: Ali, moving when he could and lashing out with snake-like speed and precision, caught Frazier- always a slow starter- early on with beautiful combinations; but Frazier never stopped pressing the fight, never let up, and the vicious left hooks for which he had become famous were finding their mark time and again, even in the early going. Ali narrowly won the first round, widened the margin a tad in the second- but by the third round, Frazier was landing solid left hooks to the head and body and Ali found himself forced back against the ropes. There he found himself, again and again, as Frazier pressed the action. The hooks thudded home solidly (punctuated by the occasional right hand, that dug in deep), and Ali's entire body was jarred from head to toe by the sheer force of the blows. Years later, when asked who had hit him the hardest in his career, Ali said that Frazier had actually hit him harder than anyone else- including George Foreman and Earnie Shavers. Frazier, in this first of three fights, took rounds three through eight- but Ali, spurred on by cornerman Drew "Bundini" Brown between rounds, came out and won the ninth round big. Though the fourteenth round could've been even, Ali did not clearly win another round. The knockdown in the fifteenth round clinched it for Frazier. The judge who scored the fight 11-4 was the one whose scorecard most closely reflected the fight itself. (Body punches do count, despite the way some judges see things.) One of the key reasons to see this version of this fight is because it lacks the idiotic babbling of the know-nothing commentators whose ringside commentary makes so many fights not worth watching. Whosever idea it was to let the fight speak for itself made a good choice.